The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: a Satirical View of the Old South

Elaborate uses of race, unprecedented statements about the role of religion and an overall mockery of the society of the old south serve as a method of conveying Mark Twain's opinion of society. In his dandy riverboat adventure The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain attacks the traditions of slavery, racism, and the accepted traditions of the old south. He helped expose the hypocrisies of the southern society through this novel.

Twain stands firmly by his principles. He is a firm believer that slavery is sinister. It was a wretched institution that was necessary to be eliminated. He said slavery was bad mainly because it was hypocritical. We see this hypocrisy throughout the book when Huck is able to interact with Jim and also learn from him while the southern slave society treats Jim as nothing more than an object. We see the southern perception of black people in chapter thirty-two when Huck tells to Aunt Sally his story about the blown cylinder head. When she asks him if anyone was hurt he said "no'm. Killed a nigger." When she shows no emotion in her reaction it shows us how many southern whites looked at blacks. We also see at many times during the novel that Huck and Jim have a true friendship. The go out of their way at many times for the welfare of eachother and they develop a relationship to which they both contribute. Huck teaches Jim about diversity, priests and rulers in chapter fourteen when he reads to him about Solomon and Frenchmen. Jim also teaches Huck an important lesson on how people should be treated individually.

Another example Twain uses to show the hypocrisies of society is racism. Twain is not attacking the whole issue of race as much as the role race plays in society. Twain uses race to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the rich and "well refined." He starts demonstrating these falsities of a society of...

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A conscience is that still small voice that people won't listen to.
That's just the trouble with the world today. -Jiminy Cricket.
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